Well fellas myself and two buddies flew into Washington two days ago to come get after some Merriams at Collville National Forest. Yesterday was an entire day of scouting in which we found multiple birds. Being from South AL we certainly were not ready for what this morning brought in the mountains of Washington. An hour into the morning myself and one of my buddies found ourselves an hour and a half into walking a cliff side chasing gobbles all over the place. We did get on one early and learned really quick like how different it is to set up on one on a steep ridge side. He gobbled to our left and walked what little bit of a bench there was ahead of us only to come in on our right at 15 yards and caught us with our pants down. The gobbling somewhat died down the next hour or so and when we finally decided to start making our way back down to go meet back up with our other buddies. On the way out we found one hammering across the valley on the exact road we were walking on. He gobbled at everything I threw his way and the rest is history. We followed the road up to within 70 yards of him, set up, gave him a few soft yelps and his head popped over the hill at 36 yards. Blessed is an understatement and I am on Cloud 9 about this one!
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Fantastic!! That is a great hunt. I love WA State for turkey hunting!! Congrats to you!!
Sounds like an awesome hunt, great job!!! Keep us updated on the rest of your trip. :turkey2:
Awesome bird, Congrats
Congrats Coop! (nice scenery!!)
Great bird and a good story! Congrats!
Very nice. Congrats
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Congrats. Great scenery.
Thanks fellas! It's been a blast so far!
Congrats to you on a awesome bird and a great hunt. Well done on the picture Merriams are beautiful birds and with that background it Makes all the better
Congrats!!
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Congrats on a beautiful bird and your first Merriams! :icon_thumright:
Couple more pics from a different spot lower down the mountain. Sorry for blowing you guys up with the pictures but I'm just beside myself about this hunt! And again thank you fellas for all the kind words.
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Good job Coop, nothing like the west!
That is a sweet lookin' bird!!!
It's certainly a whole different style of hunting! It's incredible how close a gobble can sound only for you to realize he's in fact on the top of a mountain! Certainly a workout getting on them here but it is 100% worth it! We are all having one heck of a time!
Way to go!! Beautiful birds and sounds like a good time.
Great story and pictures. Congrats.
I just posted a thread... Merriam's are on my list.
Great job, and very nice bird to show for it!
Thanks guys! We got awfully close for one of my buddies about 20 minutes ago. Hopefully it pans out shortly!
Gorgeous fan!
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Congrats!! Good luck to your Buds!!
Congrats Coop! Awesome hunt I hope y'all all get one! Hey bring that fan back to Al. and pin it up in the Flo- Bama!
Congrats Coop! My bro-in-law lives out there. I might have to "visit" him one day..lol
Fantastic pic! Congrats!
Congrats!
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Awesome! Hopping on an airplane in the morning for my first trip out west to chase them too.
We have ran them silly! We have been on a ton of birds with nothing but 1 kill and a boat load of gobbles to show for it. We got on 3 others that could've/should've broke to the barrel but just didn't. Turkeys doing turkey things and not cooperating when you think they should most. At the end of the day it has been an absolute thrill out here and there is no doubt in my mind that I'll be back. Thank you all for the kind comments!
Congrats
Thank you!
Beautiful bird
Congrats! I live just south of Colville. Love chasin those Merriams.
congrats
Looks like an amazing trip! Congrats on a great bird! Keep us posted on the rest of your trip